Historical Development of Australian Universities Sector

The Australian university sector has grown rapidly since the middle 1980s after a history of relatively slow growth up until that point.

The two original universities, University of Sydney and University of Melbourne, formed at the beginning of the 1850s, had the field to themselves until 1874 when the University of Adelaide opened, followed by the University of Tasmania in 1890. The only other universities commencing operations before the end of the Second World War were the University of Queensland in 1890 and then the University of Western Australia in 1911.

It was not until after the war that the university sector started to develop momentum, albeit initially at a very slow rate. This began with the establishment of the Australian National University in 1946, followed by another three universities up until 1958.

In 1964 a new wave of growth commenced which saw the establishment of another nine universities up until 1975.

Following this it was another 12 years until Curtin University became the next accredited university, in 1987, marking the beginning of a massive expansion of the university sector which saw 20 new universities accredited between 1987 and 1999, 1999 being the last year a new university opened.

NOTE: Click the 'State' header to sort the table by State

Historical Development of Australian Universities - Start Dates

University

State

(pre)

Start

University of Sydney (sydney)

NSW

1850

University of Melbourne (unimelb)

VIC

1853

University of Adelaide (adelaide)

SA

1874

University of Tasmania (utas)

TAS

1890

University of Queensland (uq)

QLD

1909

University of Western Australia (uwa)

WA

1911

Australian National University (anu)

ACT

1946

University of New South Wales (unsw)

NSW

1949

University of New England (une)

NSW

(1938)

1954

Monash University (monash)

VIC

1958

Macquarie University (mq)

NSW

1964

La Trobe University (latrobe)

VIC

1965

University of Newcastle (newcastle)

NSW

1965

Flinders University (flinders)

SA

1966

James Cook University (jcu)

QLD

1970

Griffith University (griffith)

QLD

1971

Murdoch University (murdoch)

WA

1973

Deakin University (deakin)

VIC

1974

University of Wollongong (uow)

NSW

(1951)

1975

Curtin University (curtin)

WA

(1967)

1987

Charles Darwin University (cdu)

NT

(1974)

1988

Queensland University of Technology (qut)

QLD

(1882)

1988

University of Technology Sydney (uts)

NSW

(1965)

1988

Bond University (bond)

QLD

1989

University of Western Sydney (uws)

NSW

1989

Charles Sturt University (csu)

NSW

1990

University of Canberra (canberra)

ACT

(1967)

1990

University of Notre Dame (nd)

WA

1990

Australian Catholic University (acu)

MULTI

(1850)

1991

Edith Cowan University (ecu)

WA

(1902)

1991

University of South Australia (unisa)

SA

1991

CQ University (cqu)

QLD

(1967)

1992

RMIT University (rmit)

VIC

(1887)

1992

Swinburne University of Technology (swinburne)

VIC

(1908)

1992

University of Southern Queensland (usq)

QLD

(1967)

1992

Victoria University (vu)

VIC

1992

Southern Cross University (scu)

QLD

(1970)

1994

Federation University (feduni)

VIC

(1871)

1992

University of the Sunshine Coast (usc)

QLD

(1995)

1999

Key & Notes

* Start: - 'Start' denotes the year the institution first started operating as a university

* pre: - 'pre' denotes the year the institution or its main predecessor first started operating as an educational facility prior to it commencing operations as a university